Different Ways to Introduce a Character
by lakariana
Summary: So I wrote this character...and then I wrote her again and again and each time she was a little different. Here are the different incarnations. Each story also focuses around McGee and most are angsty. Enjoy.
1. Chapter 1

Authors note: The title pretty much explains it all, but in case it doesn't...For a long time now I have been thinking of writing a female character to interact with McGee, she started out with the idea of being the opposite of Abby and over time she morphed into various incarnations. I ended up starting a few stories but the plot bunnies would call and I'd run off to start a new one before I finished the one I was working on. I have decided to load up all the different versions of Lola as a series of one shots. They aren't in any particular order. See which one is your favourite :)

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or any of the characters, I'm just borrowing them. The rating is for bad language and violent imagery.

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><p>Version one: Hostage<p>

Their jail was something straight out of an old school spaghetti western, a row of cells made of wrought iron bars with simple bunks along one wall opposite a solid looking brick wall separated by a narrow walkway. Special Agent Antony Dinozzo had a hundred and one puns and movie references for just this situation. Unfortunately, he found himself too irritated to use any in the manner they deserved.

"Ok, I'll be The Good, Gibbs is The Bad and Ziva you're The Ugly. Try to remember."

Ok so maybe I can't even help myself, Tony thought to himself while studying the woman leaning against the wall opposite him. Unlike the westerns of Hollywood this jail had no windows and the warm orangey atmosphere was replaced by a cold dinginess. Their jailer stayed sunken into the shadows, a vague female shape that blended in with rest of the darkness. Like an alley cat, Tony thought, his eyes squinting, attempting to resolve more detail. Long hair flowing past her shoulders and spilling over her face, she wore figure hugging trousers and a loose jumper which hung off her shoulders. I've got this all wrong, he thought, this isn't a western it's a full on Bogey Noir.

"Hey lady," Tony rasped doing his best Humphery Bogart impression, "I know I'm a catch but you didn't have to take it this far."

She slid from the wall and stepped towards him almost entering the dim pool of light from the loan bulb in the ceiling. "I don't want to upset your world view, Very Special Agent DiNozzo, but this has very little to do with you." She said, leaning slightly forward.

"Why are we here then?" Tony smirked at her. Gibbs leaned closer, watching them intently from the neighbouring cell. She sighed and walked away from them towards the main door.

"I told you all already, you're hostages. Although, I guess I didn't mention that I'm the one that rescued you."

Tony rattled the door to his cell. "Funny, I don't feel very rescued."

"Well, that's because you didn't realise the danger you were in before." With that last remark flung over her shoulder, she turned to leave.

"What's your name?"Gibbs' question stopped her in her tracks for a second.

"I told you alread-" She started without turning.

"No, you didn't." Gibbs interrupted, his face was a stone mask, his glare focused at the back of her head.

To Tony's surprise the woman gave a very girly giggle and spun round, for a brief flash he saw her face, dark eyes, long eyelashes and a soft smirk to her lips. "Lola. I'm Lola" She said smiling impishly. Then she left, closing the door behind her.

"Gibbs." Ziva called from the cell behind Tony. "You know something we do not." Her voice held quiet accusation.

"Yeah Ziva, I'm starting to think you may be right." Gibbs replied, dropping onto the cot in his cell. His gaze stayed fixed on the closed door Lola had just exited through. Tony had had just about enough.

"What the hell was all that? Rescued us? Who does she think she is? Boss?" Tony jerked his head between his cell mates. Neither answered, Gibbs remained glaring at the door, clearly thinking his own thoughts and ignoring Tony, while Ziva watched Gibbs with a frown on her face. "Well?" He shouted at them. Still receiving no response, he slumped back against the bars of his cell, all the energy seemed to leave his body. He had never felt so useless, he needed evidence, clues, a bad guy to chase down and interrogate until they confessed. This situation he couldn't get a handle on. Every time he thought he understood it something changes and the rug was swept out from under him again. The metal bars dug into his back and he felt his temper flare again, growling he slammed his hands back against the bars making them rattle and shooting pains up his forearms.

"Feel smarter now DiNozzo?" Gibbs voice echoed around their prison. Tony growled again, damn Gibbs and his sixth sense cryptic bullshit, but their long standing relationship kept him from losing his temper at his boss and he bit his tongue. "I wish I had my boat." Gibbs said to himself, before turning away from both of them and lying down, the discussion apparently ended before it'd begun.

...

Gibbs lay awake hours later, the image of the girl smiling in his mind. Girl? He asked himself, why is she sometimes a girl and sometimes a woman? Probably because of her age, he answered himself. That was one of thing things that had been bugging him since he had first laid eyes on her, why did her age matter so much to him? For that matter why did he seem to think he could work out her identity as long as he could keep his mind focused on it. He was sure he'd never met her.

There was no doubt she was one of the bad guys. She had that arrogant air about her when she looked at them. A hint of excitement in her eyes, daring him to catch her and figure out who she was, and Gibbs was happy to meet that challenge. Even as he thought that he frowned, that was the other problem. Sure, she was taking pleasure in teasing them, but when he had demanded her real name she had almost seemed pleased. Or was she relieved?

Gibbs stared up at the ceiling. He could hear Tony snoring in the next cell, his head slumped against his chest as he remained sat on the floor. His neck would regret that in the morning. Ziva, ever sensible, had laid down on her cot to sleep. Once in a while Gibbs heard her softly mumbling. Hoping this entrapment hadn't caused a Somalia related nightmare, Gibbs tried to refocus on figuring out their situation. Who had told him about Lola? Wait, _told_ him? Where has that come from? A vague memory of the bullpen at the yard swam in front of his mind, but before he could focus on it a slamming door broke his concentration.

The sound had been muffled but loud enough to hear through their prison door. Gibbs strained his ears and could make out people talking, it was too muffled to make out any words but there was definitely more than one man while the other sounded more like a woman. Suddenly the voices rose in volume, something was obviously going wrong on the other side of the door. Gibbs moved from the cot closer to the door trying to make out what the voices were saying, but Ziva had started moaning louder, their voices obviously disturbing her sleep. Gibbs tried to concentrate, seeing if he could recognise the voices but his mind kept floating back to his memory of the bullpen. He shook his head. What was the matter with him why couldn't he focus? Why the bullpen? Somebody talking to him in the bullpen?

"McGee!" Ziva's shout broke Gibbs' thoughts apart. He jerked back towards her cell and the voices abruptly stopped in the other room. Gibbs held his breath but no one entered.

"Jeese Ziva!" Tony said rubbing his neck as he stood up. "Can't you save your...er...dreams for when you sleep in private?"

"It was not that sort of dream, Tony" Ziva growled, glaring at him. "It was not that sort of dream." She repeated again quietly. Gibbs watched as Tony shuffled towards her looking ashamed. Ziva's body was completely tense and she jumped when Tony stuck a hand through the bars to touch her elbow.

"Hey, sorry." He said trying to get her to face him, "I'm worried about him too."

"Why isn't he here with us Tony?" She asked.

"You want him stuck in this hell hole with us?"

"If what that Lola person says is true, if we are in danger, he is too. He is a member of our team. He should be here with us."

"Why should we believe what she says?" Tony replied, his earlier anger tingeing his voice, "I bet McGoogle is out there running searches and tracking us down as we speak." Tony clearly didn't believe his own lies but somehow his words made Gibbs' gut clench.

"I can't wait to tell McGee you called out his name in your sleep!"

...

Gibbs had finally fallen asleep after Ziva and Tony had settled back down again. As he slowly came back to wakefulness he realised he was being watched. The woman sat opposite him facing him, her legs were stretched out and crossed at the ankle, her back against the wall. The light from the bulb cast deep shadows across her face as if she'd been cut into pieces. Gibbs didn't move, carefully watching her trying to gauge the situation before acting. She shifted position and Gibbs saw the pool of darkness in her lap form the hard black edges of a gun, one of her hands was resting over it, appearing relaxed but in the precise position to quickly reach the trigger if needed. Guarding us, from escaping or from being attacked? Gibbs was reluctant to admit they had pretty much demonstrated their inability to escape so far, he assumed she really did think she was protecting them.

"What a mess Agent Gibbs." She said in a whispered sigh. Gibbs sat up and turned to face her directly, from this angle he could see new swollen purpling injuries to her jaw and arms.

"Who did that to you?" He asked.

"Ah, no need to feel protective Agent Gibbs. Just some average thugs, they're gone now and none the wiser about your location. So don't you go worrying, Lola's keeping you safe and sound."

"We can't be worth the pain. I know you've not met us before, but this isn't really about you and us, isn't that what you telling Tony? Who are we worth all this for?" Gibbs watched as Lola shifted uncomfortably.

"I love him, even though he hates me."She reluctantly admitted. As she looked him right in the eye, it suddenly all snapped into place, a scanned photograph of a young girl with a wicked smile mostly hidden by the dark hair falling over face as she tackled the young man trying to pose for the photo in front of her, both of them smiling big care free smiles.

...

Abby had gotten into one of those states where she loses focus on the rest of the world, bouncing around the bullpen at the yard and demanding to understand why the latest suspect could have committed the crimes he had and why, despite his clearly malicious intentions, his wife continued to support him.

"People aren't characters in a cartoon Abby." McGee's soft voice had cut into her rant.

"I know that_ McGee_." She'd sneered back at him, "Isn't that why you based all yours on real people?" Tim winced at the jab but nodded.

"Yeah Abs. People are complicated and just because a person does terrible maybe even evil things, doesn't necessarily mean they are an evil person, or that they are incapable of love or good deeds."

Abby hadn't been satisfied of course and Tony and Ziva had ended up taking her out for a Cafpow to distract her. The ensuing peace in the pen had allowed Gibbs to watch Tim more carefully, the case and Abby's rant had clearly affected him. His work hadn't suffered but he had been distant and introspective.

Gibbs would never normally pry into his team's private life, he didn't see it as any of his business. Until it ended up being integral to a case he thought ruefully. But this time his curiosity pricked him, he realised out of them all, his youngest agent's history was the one he knew the least about. Sure, he knew what was down on paper but hardly anything about the life he'd actually lived through, what experiences had moulded the man he'd grown into?

"What was her name McGee?"

...

Tony stirred in the next cell bringing Gibbs back to the present. Turning to stare right back into Lola's eyes, Gibbs found himself smiling his first genuine smile in a long time.

"What did Timothy McGee ever do to earn a favour from a girl like you?" He asked.

Tony sat up abruptly to stare at them, clearly also having been faking sleep. Lola leaned back so she could speak to both of them.

"You know he didn't speak to me for four years? And then suddenly he calls out of the blue and needs a truly huge favour. And what do I do? I do whatever he asks, with a song in my heart. What a massive _girl_ I am." She smiled at Gibbs, her dark eyes twinkling with amusement. "I guess no one can forget their first true love." Tony opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by a shrill ringing.

"Oo, one sec." Lola said as she pulled the phone out of her pocket and opened the door to leave. She was back again before Dinozzo had managed to form a complete thought.

"I hope you don't hold my abandoning you against me, but it's probably a good idea to try and avoid any further awkward situations and I don't have long." She made a move to run out the door but turned at the last minute. "I'm really happy I got to meet you." She beamed that familiar big smile at them all before finally disappearing for good.

It was another half an hour before the door opened again. McGee looked exhausted and battered, his clothes torn with a smattering of blood on his collar. Gibbs decided to wait for him to release them before he kicked his ass into the next century.

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><p>Authors note: So this is the first one, I think I may have rushed the ending a little but as I said in the beginning, these are snippets of longer stories that were never going to get finished. If you read the others, you'll not only notice similar themes and characters but probably some dialogue too. It'll hopefully be interesting, maybe you'll get some ideas on my story writing process and why I didn't pursue these any further or maybe you think I shouldn't have given up on them. I look forward to hearing from you either way. Thanks for reading.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or any of the characters from the show, I'm just borrowing them.

Warning: Some light bad language ahead.

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><p>Undercover<p>

Tony wouldn't stop fidgeting and it was driving Ziva up the wall, or was it up the pole? She could never remember that one. Sure they were all feeling nervous, but everyone else was managing to funnel their energy into being productive, not being annoying. OK, it's not like McGee was the best suited for an undercover operation. He was far too...well... _nice_ at the heart of it. But the operation had called for a hacker, and not just any hacker, but a hacker who could hack the CIA in an evening, which apparently had led to Timothy McGee being the main candidate and the rest of them sat here as his support. During the initial briefing she had been willing him to say no, to stammer and apologise, but of course he hadn't. He had to prove himself and when had he ever refused an order before?

She looked around the dingy room they were currently sitting in. Surveillance equipment and intel was in various piles on the floor and work benches, with an uncomfortable mixture of FBI and NCIS personnel monitoring it all. Tony glanced up at her from his spot in front of the monitors, meeting her gaze he gave her his DiNozzo's-patented-reassuring smile and with a jolt Ziva realised she had just spent the last five minutes nervously fidgeting. She stood and walked over to the windows, lifting the net curtain to the side she looked out just in time to see McGee step out of a taxi across the street.

"He is here." She announced to the room. Everyone instantly stopped what they were doing and turned to the monitors. Ziva turned back to the window and watched her teammate pay the driver. Just like the time they had sent him to a drop off as Kirby, McGee was wearing a lurid Hawaiian shirt under a scruffy blazer over jeans, and also just like then, he just looked like a very uncomfortable Special Agent Timothy McGee in a bad Hawaiian shirt. Ziva felt a cold feeling of dread in her gut. She should have said something to Gibbs, stopped this terrible idea. Tim's feelings might have been hurt but at least he wouldn't be walking to his death.

"Jeese look at him." One of the FBI agents said, "He has done undercover work before right?" Looking around at the NCIS agents he rolled his eyes. "Well this is going to be short, better gear up and get ready to save his ass."

"Hey!" Gibbs cut in before Tony and Ziva could. "Shut up and get us all coffee. Black no sugar." The agent opened his mouth to argue but Gibbs' glare sent him out of the room.

Tony sighed, the uncomfortable atmosphere in the room had only gotten worse. He looked over at Ziva who seemed to be determined to avoid his gaze. Ah Probie, he thought, please do OK, you don't have to be amazing, just get in and get out again. Then we'll all sit down and have a chat about how we're never going to do this again.

The parabolic microphone beeped and a sharp knocking could be heard. Tony's eyes fixed onto the monitor. The dirty wooden door McGee had just knocked on was like ten others on the street. Squashed in between an electronic store and a greasy cafe, this one didn't just hide dirty bed-sits, lonely pensioners and poor students. This door was apparently the entrance to a crime organisation that had started branching out into trading with terrorists. The door swung open and a huge man appeared, Tony winced at McGee's nervous cough. "I'm Harper Collins." McGee said, "Jonah said your boss needed my help with something." The man didn't say anything, just stepped back to allow McGee to pass him and disappear into the building.

Everyone in the surveillance room held their breath. The two cameras were panned across the windows of the opposite building searching for any movement.

"There." Ziva said, "The third window from the right on the second floor." The focus fluctuated and then Tony and Gibbs could see the big man from the door stride across the frame and gesture to something. McGee also appeared and the two started to speak to each other.

"Where's the sound?" Gibbs growled. An agent immediately scurried to re-adjust the forgotten parabolic microphone.

"I don't understand." McGee's voice sounded strained through the monitor's speakers.

"Think of this as an entrance test Mr Collins." The big man replied. Gibbs leaned closer to the screen squinting to make out McGee's features. Relax McGee, he thought, trying to will his agent into looking less like a rookie cop on an undercover mission and more like the arrogant computer hacker he was supposed to be.

McGee sat down facing the window and frowned downwards at something in front of him. "Ha!" Tony said happily, "That's his concentrating-on-some-computer-thing face! Must be one on the table he's sitting at."

"Send an alert out to the agencies." One of the senior FBI agents said suddenly, "Whatever this test is we can't have him compromising any operations."

"Don't we need to him to get in? Wasn't that the whole point of sending him in there?" Tony demanded.

"The agencies are already aware of the situation. McGee will get in and he won't compromise anything." Gibbs said firmly "Everyone just needs to calm down and trust him." Tony and Ziva felt the sting of that last comment as much as the FBI did.

"Erm..." McGee's hesitant voice came over the speakers "I'm afraid I still don't understand." The big Man rolled his eyes and stepped up behind McGee. Everyone in the room tensed as the man leaned right over McGee to stare at whatever was on the screen in front of them. Calm down and trust him, Tony repeated Gibbs' words in his head, but was still shocked to see that the big man's face was slowly transforming from annoyance to surprise.

McGee's face still held a look of confusion. "This is a real job right?" He asked. "If this is some pissy joke of Jonah's, I'll kill him."

"You barely touched anything." The man said, glowering over McGee.

"Erm...why would I have to?" He asked. "The servers aren't really protected, most people think of them as public access." Everyone in the surveillance room jumped as McGee suddenly started laughing. "This is really all you wanted?" He asked, as the big man stepped back. "I can't believe I was actually worried about this. Hell this'll be the easiest money I ever made. Lead on to the next test, will there be cake?" Ziva blinked in surprise, she had never heard arrogance like this from McGee.

"Just wait a second." The big man said pulling a cell phone from his pocket and walking away to talk to someone. McGee leaned back in his chair and looked around the room ignoring the team mates he knew were watching from across the street.

Tony turned to smile triumphantly at the FBI agents in the room. "There see? There's no problem." He declared. Gibbs decided to save his head slap until McGee could watch.

"Anderson is there." Ziva suddenly announced from her position at the window.

"What?" Tony asked his confidence already leaving him, "Why would he come here?" Anderson was technically the second in command of the organisation they were tracking. Although intel suggested the true leader was nothing more than a figurehead, with Anderson welding most of the power. It had apparently been with his blessing that the organisation had started appropriating and selling weapons and intelligence to terrorist groups planning to attack America and its allies.

Tony focused on the monitors. The second camera picked up a group of people who had apparently entered from a door at the back of the room. They stopped a short way into the room.

"Harper Collins." Anderson said, "You know? I had just about lost all faith in Jonah. He doesn't keep to agreed schedules, he's got strange ideas about hierarchy and well he just didn't deliver the goods." Everything about Anderson made Ziva anxious. She had met many men like him. They all had power and had all committed terrible crimes to achieve that power. The opposite of a man like McGee, she thought unhappily, again wishing her friend had never accepted the operation. "And then he ups and disappears and I hear rumours he ran off to the FBI to beg for protection. Can you imagine?" McGee didn't answer Anderson's question. Gibbs found himself leaning toward the monitor screen again. McGee wasn't even looking at Anderson. It looked like he was looking over his shoulder. "But," Anderson continued, stepping further into the room, "Thankfully he was just out finding his own replacement. How very convenient for everyone involved."

"Oh God, I'm Dead." McGee's voice had been so quiet the microphone had barely picked it up. But it was enough for Gibbs, Tony and Ziva to start moving to the door.

"Where are you going?" The senior FBI agent asked them. "I thought you told us to stay calm and trust him?"

"You heard what he said, what Anderson said." Tony replied. But Gibbs had relaxed his stance and was gazing at the monitors again. "He has an emergency signal if he wants us to swoop in and save him." The agent continued.

"But-" Tony's reply was cut off by Gibbs.

"He's right Tony." Gibbs said. He turned to one of the junior agents, "I want to know everything about all the people in that room."

"Well...Anderson-" She started.

"Not Anderson, we all know everything about Anderson, I want to know about the others."

"They are just lower level members of the organisation, they're probably there for security or intimidation."

"Probably?" Gibbs growled at her, "The FBI thinks I should bet my agent's life on your _probably_?" Gibbs turned back to the monitors, following McGee's gaze he pointed to a woman standing behind Anderson. "Start with her." he said.

There was a flurry of movement as the junior agents searched facial recognition and their intel for information on the woman. McGee had gone back to looking nervous and flinched when woman broke away from the group to step closer to him. Anderson lifted his eyebrows in surprise and glanced between them.

"You two know each other?" He asked.

The woman studied McGee for a long moment before turning to study whatever it was he had been working on. A slow smile spread across her face as she looked sideways at McGee giving him a wink. McGee frowned in return. She whipped around to face Anderson. "I can't believe it." She said. "Boss, you might have just been handed the key to the kingdom." Anderson blinked in surprise but looked pleased.

"This guy's got the skills then?" He asked.

"Oh yes." She smiled a Cheshire cat smile and Tony felt the hairs stand up on his neck.

"There isn't a lot of verified intel." The junior agent started talking as she typed at her laptop not paying attention to the action on the monitors. "Just fragmented records and interviews. She seems to be some kind of enforcer." She kept talking not realising everyone was staring at her. "Errr...she has a lot of aliases," she continued, "Charlotte Lawler, Christina Avers, Lola..." She stopped and stared up at Gibbs, "Lola McGee."

"Maybe he's forgotten the signal?" The senior FBI agent asked sounding a little frantic. But McGee clearly hadn't forgotten. He stood and turned his back to the window. "Sooo...?" He asked. "I got the job or what?"

Anderson thumped him on the shoulder and pulled him close. "Don't make Jonah's mistakes." He warned before releasing McGee and turning to leave.

Lola grabbed McGee's hand and started dragging him out with the rest of the group. "You better come along Harper." She said. "Don't worry, you're going to make some new friends." She glanced out the window as she said this, and Ziva couldn't help thinking that comment was aimed at them.

Everyone in surveillance watched as McGee disappeared out the door, the soft click of it shutting the last sound picked up by the microphone.

After a long moment Gibbs stood and turned to the senior FBI agent, "I suggest you pack up. Leave a couple of agents in case they return. We'll head out to wait for McGee at the rendezvous." He turned and walked from the room, Ziva and Tony close at his heels. No one said anything until they reached their car. "Find out how that woman knows McGee." Gibbs ordered.

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><p>Authors note: Hmm another one where all the action takes place on monitors, I guess I like separating the characters from the action and each other. Yep McGee's cover ID is a publisher, I thought that was the sort of joke the show might use, and I hope you all got the Portal reference. Hope you enjoyed reading. This was the start of the- lets-make-Lola-a-criminal phase; Let me know what you think.<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

Authors note: So Lola is older in this one and has a stock of psychological issues. Originally I had a back story where she was assaulted on an undercover mission, partly due to her handler not backing her up appropriately, but while finishing this version all that explanation didn't seem necessary. Hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or any of the characters. Please, no one sue me.

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><p>Left Behind<p>

The elevator chimed as it reached the floor with the bullpen and Tony didn't think he'd heard a happier sound. Months of uncover work, hiding in safe houses, dodging a terrorist cell's operatives with only Gibbs and Ziva for company and now, finally, they were back home. He turned to Ziva and gave her a big grin as they followed their boss out of the elevator doors.

"Stop grinning like that, you'll scare people." She told him off, unable to hide her own smile.

"I couldn't if I tried Ziva, this may be the best day ever. I can't wait to see McGee's face when we appear. Hey quick, teach me your ninja sneaking trick we'll both use it and scare the pants off him."

But before she had a chance to reply they were brought up short by Gibbs who had stopped at the opening to their section of the bull pen, except it didn't seem to be theirs anymore. A completely different team was sat at their desks in the middle of discussing a case.

"Agent Gibbs! My God! So you aren't dead." The agent currently sat at Gibbs' desk exclaimed. Gibbs raised an eyebrow and stalked over to stand in front of him. The agent nervously stood from his chair and tried to give Gibbs an encouraging smile.

"I guess you really can't believe everything you read. Er...where have you been all these months?...I suppose you want to know where your ...er...things are. We didn't choose this space or anything, but Balboa didn't want to move and..." The agent had become increasingly nervous as Gibbs continued to stare at him without speaking.

"...Oh Hey! I was sorry to hear about Agent McGee." Tony and Ziva felt their blood run cold.

"What does that mean?" Gibbs asked leaning toward the agent, his voice like steel.

"Oh er... you haven't heard? Not sure I'm the best person to ask... what I know is all second or third hand ...and well... you know how these sorts of stories get out of control."

The agent was saved by the appearance of Director Vance on the upper walkway. Gibbs turned and strode away, the agent at his desk heaving a relieved sigh and slumping back into his chair. Ziva and Tony exchanged a quick glance before hurrying to follow Gibbs upstairs.

...

"Leon!" Gibbs called out reaching the top of the stairs just as the director reached his office door. Turning suddenly Director Vance looked surprised and then schooled his features into a bland professional facade, but Gibbs had seen the flash of dread Leon Vance had tried to hide.

"Agent Gibbs, good to see you looking so well. I wasn't expecting you here so early. I am afraid I need to take a call with Interpol. I'll catch up with you after your debriefing." The director then disappeared into his office leaving them standing on the walkway. To Ziva it had felt the same as when one of their guilty suspects was trying to make a quick escape. She turned to say as much to Gibbs but he was already entering the elevator.

"I'm going to see Ducky," he said gruffly as the doors shut.

Ziva growled as she caught some secretarial staff whispering to each other and casting glances at them. "Not quite the welcome home I was expecting." She said turning back to Tony. "Where is McGee?"

"I don't know, something is going on." Tony still had a cold feeling deep in his stomach. He ran his hands through hair. "Right well at least Abby will be pleased to see us and she is bound to know where Timmy has run off to. Let's go."

...

But Abby wasn't in her lab. The temporary replacement forensic scientist, a very polite young blonde man, gently told them she had taken a long holiday to be with her family due to personal issues but would be back in a couple of weeks.

"OK." Tony said. "My bad feeling has now officially reached defcon one. Let's catch up with the boss."

Walking into the mortuary they found Gibbs pacing in front of a dejected looking Ducky.

"Ah Anthony! Ziva! I so pleased to see you are well, I trust your time away wasn't too terrible." Ducky said brightening as soon as he saw them.

"What's going on Ducky? Where's McGee? Why has Abby gone to her family?" Ducky immediately deflated, looking truly unhappy.

"Ah I'm afraid Abigail has been feeling the strain, as it were, since the three of you went away. She found it very difficult to be kept in the dark as to what was happening with you all, especially with Timothy gone as well... Ah... as I was telling Jethro I'm not willing to discuss it until you've spoken to Timothy."

"So he's not dead?" Tony asked, relief washing through him.

"Good heavens! Did someone tell you that? When did you speak to them?" Ducky glanced fearfully between Gibbs and Tony. OK. Tony thought, that wasn't the greatest answer. So McGee wasn't dead but Ducky's worried he may suddenly turn up that way?

"He was still at the FBI ten minutes ago." A voice called out behind them. Director Vance pulled himself a little straighter and walked into the room.

"Feeling brave enough to talk to me now Leon?" Gibbs asked. The director had the grace to look a little ashamed.

"You took me by surprise Gibbs, wasn't expecting you back. Thought I'd have time to decide what to tell you."

"Well?"

"I transferred McGee to the FBI." Vance said plainly, a carefully bland expression on his face.

"What?" Gibbs demanded.

"It was supposed to temporary," Vance continued, "I thought it would be safer, away from links to NCIS and to the three of you, while this mess was sorted out. And he'd build up some experience in another agency, working as a senior field agent."

"He didn't work on our case? Try to find out what the terrorists were planning?" Tony cut in surprised.

"I'm sure he would have done if he had known about it." Vance replied turning toward him and away from Gibbs' glare, "But it was felt that knowing anything more than the basic details of the case and your whereabouts would put him at unnecessary risk."

"Who's feelings were these exactly?" Tony ground out, barely containing his anger. He had worried about McGee's self esteem being separated from the team's mission, but had assumed he'd have been kept involved here at NCIS. He'd even been planning an afterhours team bonding event to help them all get back to normal.

"Careful Dinozzo." Vance warned him. But Gibbs was back in his face before he could say another word.

"Ring them and get him back." He stated slowly. Vance sighed, he certainly hadn't missed Gibbs attitude to his chain of command while he'd been gone.

"I can't," he said holding up his hand before they could speak again. "The truth is Agent McGee has been dismissed, he doesn't work for any federal or law enforcement agency anymore."

The morgue was silent as everyone tried to understand what was being said. Gibbs eyes moved between Ducky and Vance trying to assess the truth of the statement.

"What happened?" Ziva spoke up for the first time.

Ducky sighed and turned his face away from them as Vance once more pulled himself straighter and looked down at them all. "He murdered a suspect." He said.

...

The elevator didn't ping when they reached the lower basement. This elevator didn't make happy welcoming noises. The doors crunched as they opened to reveal a dim grey concrete corridor. Tony opened his mouth to make an X-Files joke but a glance at Gibbs' tense expression let him know such jokes wouldn't be welcomed. McGee had apparently been sent to the FBI's cold case department while temporarily reassigned and their office was known as the cave. Feeling the chill of being so far underground Tony could see why. Oh yes, he thought and there's even supposed to be a dragon living in this cave.

"I think this is it." Ziva said as they reached a plain brown door. For a second Tony nearly stopped her opening it. A hundred identical scenes from a hundred horror movies flashed in his head, Ziva seemed to move in slow motion, her hand edging towards the door handle as an intense bass hum built in the background before dropping out to silence right before the door swung open.

"Or maybe not." Ziva continued. The room beyond the door was filled with paperwork, boxes and files overflowing with every manner of documents. Ziva turned to take in the room and bumped into a stack of photographs which immediately slid onto the floor in a glossy avalanche. "This is not an office, this is storage."

"A dumping ground more like" Tony snorted. "I thought the FBI would be more organised then this."

"Well," a sharp voice said from behind one of the many piles, "It's actually quite hard to be bothered about alphabetising when you've been dumped." From the back of the room appeared a woman with dark hair and sharp eyes. She reminded Tony of a bird of prey hovering above a rabbit. She seemed to be slightly older than him and her face was pulled into a lopsided frown as she glared at them. Tony spluttered trying to recover from his unintentional insult. But the woman just rolled her eyes, "Do _not_ run off and leave those there." She snapped motioning at the photographs and turning to walk away.

"We're looking for Agent Timothy McGee." Gibbs called after her.

"Are you now?" She replied, "How very exciting for you."

Gibbs barely contained his growl. "Do you know where we might find him?" He asked.

"Well goodness I'd look under M, but then as your colleague pointed out things aren't where they should be." Her glare matched Gibbs' and neither looked like they were going to back down. Ziva nudged Tony and taking a deep breath he stepped between the two.

"I'm sorry Agent er..." He tried.

"Christanson." She said.

"Agent Christanson," Tony continued turning on the DiNozzo charm to full power, "We're sorry for being rude, I'm Agent Dinozzo, This is Agent David and that gentleman is our boss, Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs." Ziva thought she saw a flicker of something in Agent Christanson's eyes as Tony introduced them but it disappeared as quickly as it arrived. "We are Tim's team from NCIS, we've just got back from an operation and we just want to see him."

Her eyes narrowed further as she stared at them. Deciding whether to eat our eyes or hearts first, Tony thought to himself. Whichever it was, she appeared to reach a decision and rolled her eyes.

"Whatever, come on." She said and walked further into the room without waiting for them.

As they followed her through the room they passed crates of case files and evidence, scene of crime photos with mutilated bodies were pinned up all along the wall, each had pieces of string connecting them to other evidence on the table. As they neared the back wall, Tony noticed a door hidden in the dim light, it was slightly ajar and a flickering bluish light seeped out around the edge. As they neared the door Agent Christanson suddenly started talking much louder.

"I must say such lovely tans you all have," she practically shouted, "all so well rested and healthy looking. It must be your agency. Is that what is it Tim?" This last question was directed through the door as she opened it.

Tony couldn't help barging past Christanson and into the room, he came to an abrupt halt. The room was tiny, the same plague of papers and folders from the larger office were here and squeezed between them was an ancient looking set of computer monitors. Text was scrolling past and giving off a flickering cold light. But Tony and Ziva didn't see any of that. Their eyes were drawn to the figure sat in front of the computers. Normally carefully turned out, Tim was wearing a crumpled t-shirt over dirty jeans. His face was covered in patchy stubble and although he had been slim when they left, he had clearly lost what little weight remained. The surprise on his face slowly slipped away leaving a blank expression as he gazed at them.

"Hey Probie...It's us." Tony fumbled for a greeting. McGee's gaze scanned over the three of them, lingering on Gibbs for a second longer than the others before turning back to the computers.

"Lola, power down for me." He said, getting up from the chair and picking up his bag.

"Yes, Tim." Ziva turned in surprise, the woman sounded so meek compared to the way she'd behaved before.

Lola Christanson was torn as she watched Tim walk towards his old team. His body seemed to curl inward protecting himself from them. No, that wasn't it, he was hiding from them. The cruel comments she was going to sling at them died in her throat to be replaced by a pain in her chest. She watched as Tim reached the door and made to push past his old boss. Dinozzo reached out to prevent him leaving and she found herself stepping forward to stop him. She needn't have bothered.

"You left me behind." Tim's quiet words seemed to freeze his former team mates in place. Before anyone could come up with something to say he had left.

...

Tobius Fornell had known this was coming, but still didn't feel prepared. Gibbs stood in the middle of the corridor outside his office, his face a stone mask.

"Gibbs." Fornell said in greeting, frowning slightly when his friend didn't answer. "Glad to see you, was worrying you'd disappeared back to Mexico." Gibbs' frown deepened and Fornell hurried to continue. "Not that you would... again."

"I've been downstairs" Gibbs said.

"Met The Dragon did you? God that woman is a force of nature, and we used to think Dianne could be terrifying when she was angry. But she still had chunks of time when she at least pretended to be happy."

"Wasn't pretending with me."

Fornell rolled his eyes. "We used to send all the junior agents down there with a fake file request, just to irritate her and teach them what evil looks like."

"That what McGee needed? Teaching?" Gibbs asked. Fornell stopped walking and turned to face him.

"Ah Jeese Gibbs," he said throwing his hands up as if in surrender. "I know he was your man, but I didn't think he'd get into trouble, other than The Dragon eating him maybe. When I went down there to check, they actually seemed to be getting along just fine. So I didn't worry." Fornell sighed. "I didn't hear about him again until everything had already hit the fan. I know that's just an excuse but..." He sighed again. "Look, we shouldn't talk out in the open like this, for Mcgee's sake. But, but it's about Melissa Trunner, you remember her?" Gibbs nodded slowly but Fornell continued anyway. "Little girl disappeared from her bed 2 years ago in the middle of night. Never heard from or found again? Well... McGee found her and...Look I'm sorry, OK? I don't know what happened, he killed the suspect. In the guy's own home. He shot him in the head." Fornell seemed to shrink a little in front of him. "They found four other dead girls at the scene too." He put his hand out and gripped Gibbs' arm, trying to make the next point as clear as he could. "He confessed to it Gibbs, and his story never changed. He saw the guy and then he shot him. I think the agencies ran with some sort of psychiatric defence... I'm sorry Jethro."

Fornell stared at his old friend, hoping to see what the man was thinking. As usual he was wasting his time. Gibbs' face maintained its hard impassive features as he looked back at him. Fornell sighed again, "I don't know what I should have done Gibbs, but let me do the right thing now. That boy needs you, needs his team, his friends. I just wish I..." Fornell grimaced as Gibbs just walked away from him.

...

Gibbs sat in his car after leaving Fornell. If someone had told him four months ago that his team would be in pieces right now, he'd have head slapped them into next week. It had just been a routine case, a dead marine found in a field by dog walkers, but traces of rare and expensive metals on the body had led them to an electronics research facility which turned out to have some interesting and highly criminal side lines. Gibbs, Ziva and Tony had had to leave McGee at the office to help Abby with the evidence and keep them updated on the various searches he was running, but that's when it had all gone to hell. Suddenly they were up to their eyeballs in a terrorist plot and with the body count building they had been forced into hiding in order to allow a covert operation to investigate and prevent a devastating attack on the United States. Vance was the only person they had been able to speak to. He had assured him Tim would be ok.

...

Night had already fallen when Gibbs pulled into the parking lot for McGee's apartment complex, he had had to ask Ziva for directions and that had irritated him. Every reminder of the separation between his youngest team member and himself added to the cold weight in his gut. These issues had never bothered him before, he'd never taken a second's thought about where McGee lived, but now things were very different.

Gibbs got out and locked his car, as he walked toward the main entrance to McGee's building a shadow detached itself from the wall and stepped into the light.

"Hey Boss." Tony greeted, "I've been here about half an hour. Haven't even made it through the door." Gibbs stared at him before smiling, thumping him on the shoulder and pushing him through the entrance.

Minutes later they stood outside McGee's apartment door. "Boss." Tony said quickly before he could knock. "What are we going to say?" Gibbs sighed.

"I don't know Dinozzo." He replied. "How about we start with let us in?" Tony still looked unhappy but Gibbs was already knocking on the door. The sound of somebody moving inside could be heard then the door flew open and Lola Christanson scowled at them.

"What exactly are you people hoping to achieve?" She asked.

"We want to see Tim." Gibbs said simply.

"Oh! Yes. That idea panned out so wonderfully earlier today." Tony winced as the sarcasm cut through him. His eyes floated downwards to avoid her gaze, but shot back up again when he saw what she was holding in her hands.

"Is that McGee's underwear?" He stammered. Lola looked down at the grey boxers in her hands as if studying them.

"I'm not sure Special Agent Dinozzo. Hang on I'll run a quick test." She made to slam the door in their faces but Gibbs must have seen the move coming as he was already shouldering the door back open. Tony heard Lola's startled and angry shout as his Boss disappeared through the doorway and into the darkness of the flat. Tony took a deep breath and followed him.

...

Tony's eyes took a second to adjust, the flat was bathed in a sickly yellow light from the street outside. The air was damp and smelled sort of like posh flowery talcum power. Gibbs clicked on a desk lamp and the dim outlines resolved into the sharp contours of McGee's furniture and a clothes horse half filled with fresh laundry. Lola stood next to a pile of damp clothes, she shook the grey boxers at them.

"He's not here. What is the matter with you people?" She spat at them. "Get out."

"Why are you here?" Gibbs asked as he scanned the room. Everything was neat and tidy and clean. He had been expecting the flat to look much like McGee had earlier, a complete mess. He looked back at the furious woman in time to see her roll her eyes.

"Clearly I am lying in wait, so I can murder Tim in his sleep." She turned her back to them both and started spreading clothes from the pile onto the horse. "Do you mind awfully leaving? You'll give the game away."

"No, You're doing his laundry." Tony knew he was stating the obvious but his brain still wasn't able to make sense of the situation.

"You've been looking after him?" Gibbs asked quietly.

"Tim's been so worried about you, this whole time." She replied her shoulders slumping a little. "I kept telling him not to bother, you'd left him to look after himself. An unwanted child, I said, abandoned in the woods. I thought I was just being a bitch." She turned her glare back at Gibbs. "It was true. You left him behind and now..." Her voice seemed to lose its strength as she gazed around the apartment.

You left him behind. The words had been echoing around Gibbs' head since McGee had spoken to them that morning. Looking around the apartment he noticed the electric work bench and the industrial shelves stuffed with god knows what, the huge computer set up and the various containers of food on the kitchen bar. This was Tim's life and he didn't know about any of it. Desperation built up in his chest, he was going to fix this, he was going to put everything back the way it was and then he was going to show Tim how he was part of a team. Their team. His team.

"Please Lola," Gibbs voice was soft but Tony could hear the pain within it. "I...I left him." Gibbs looked at Lola, she was looking down at the floor, her face unreadable. "I thought he would be safer here, I thought he'd be more comfortable, more useful, more...happy. Please Lola. What happened while we were gone?"

Tony was afraid to move. After a long moment Lola looked up at Gibbs, her stare steady as if she was reading him, trying to collect information. Then she came to a decision.

"It was a paedophile." The words rushed out like she didn't like them in her mouth. Lola turned sharply to look past Gibbs towards the kitchen. "Tim hadn't been in the cave long and I'd been er...resistant to his presence." Gibbs shifted to the wall and Tony followed his lead, giving Lola space, their backs against McGee's electrical workbench. From this angle Lola looked statuesque, her back straight and her hair swept back from her face. Her eyes gazed off into the distance as she spoke. "He just floundered around like the others at first. Then one day he was writing some programme which compiled and compared key words and short phrases in electronic text. Like search engines on the internet he said." Lola laughed sharply turning to look back at them. "I'll admit I was impressed. The biggest problem with these cold cases is often the volume of information already collated, wading through it all and trying to filter out if there are any viable leads to proceed with. Tim realised this and then came up with a way to improve the process, even just as a preliminary screening process." Lola returned to the laundry, shaking out and hanging Tim's shirts on the rack as she spoke.

"The first couple of trials just spit out victims names and our own terminology, but he kept running it again and again tweaking it or whatever. I found myself leaving him to it, getting on with other work and..."

"And?" Tony prompted, unable to hold the question in. He was finding it really interesting hearing how another person found working with McGee especially someone as antagonistic as Lola seemed to be. The Probie had apparently managed to win The Dragon over with very little fuss. When they got him back to normal Tony was going to ask him what the secret to impressing crazy evil women was.

A flash of annoyance spread across Lola's face at being interrupted but she continued. "And suddenly, he told me it was finished, and did I have a case I thought would be good to try it out on?" Lola started to look troubled.

"You gave him the Trunner case." Gibbs stated

"Yes," she continued. "It was mainly electronic and recent enough to provide some usable leads. And I thought..."

"You thought the fact that it was a missing child case would upset him?"

"Yes. I figured he'd either be appalled or get obsessed with it and burn out"

"But he didn't."

"Well gosh, Agent Gibbs you seem to already know all this..."

"I'm sorry." Gibbs cut in before she could really get angry. "Please, we're just anxious." Tony was shocked, he'd never heard Gibbs behave in such a submissive way. He must really be worried about all this, Tony thought.

"I'm sorry too," He added, "Agent Christanson, please continue."

Lola looked down her nose at them, finished with the clothes she turned to the computer desk and began tidying the clutter. "He filtered all the data and compared it to other missing child cases in the area and out popped a name. Dresser Removals. Basically, a man with a van operation run by a Michael Dresser. He had a good reputation in the area, people would call him when they moved, if they needed to transport anything big, whatever. It was an excellent way in for a paedophile as long as he kept himself under control. Everyone expected him to be around, was used to seeing his van. He gained access to people's homes, could find out which room was the child's. Not that we could fully suspect him right away, so we went to interview him." The troubled look had returned to Lola's face as she'd spoken. Having run out of clutter she now leaned against the computer desk opposite them her voice became strained as she continued.

"Everything seemed fine at first, the guy opened the door, was polite, a little nervous. Then suddenly Tim stopped talking and looked at him funny. I don't know what had given him away. He ran from the room, we followed and ended up in the basement." Lola slipped down so she was sat on the floor opposite them. Drawing her knees towards her chest her voice grew quiet, Tony found himself leaning in closer to hear her properly.

"He had a little girl with him. He was holding her up by her hair. We didn't find out until later she had been reported missing that morning from a residential area a few miles away. He...He'd just slit her throat. Her blood was everywhere. He looked us right in the face and tossed the knife at the floor." The room was deathly quiet. Tony was horrified, he couldn't begin to imagine what Tim must have felt seeing that in front of him. He glanced at his boss and saw that his entire body was tense as if he was about to attack someone, except the person he needed to hurt wasn't in the room with them. Tony reached out a hand to calm him.

"Tim shot him in the face and killed him." Lola's words froze Tony in place. Probie shot the guy to kill him? At point blank range? He wanted to tell her it was ridiculous, that Tim would never in a million years ever do something like that, but the words wouldn't leave his throat.

"His body fell on top of her," Lola's eyes had fixed on Gibbs, "I..I couldn't stand it, the thought of him still touching her. I pushed his body off her and took her upstairs. I don't really know what happened after that. I think Tim rang your director and told him what had happened. He got arrested for murdering Dresser and I got taken in for tampering with evidence."

"What?" Tony found his voice suddenly. "Arrested? What the hell?"

"He'd thrown down the knife." Gibbs voice sounded next to him. This was what Fornell and Ducky couldn't bring themselves to tell him, this was what Tim wouldn't be coming back from.

"Your medical examiner, Dr Mallard, he found a forensic psychiatrist who reported that we suffered an extreme emotional episode that caused us to have no control of our actions." Lola rolled her eyes, her usual arrogance slipping back into place. "I used to think all that stuff was rubbish, but sometimes Tim gets this look on his face..." Lola's eyes drifted out of focus for a second. "But it meant the bosses and lawyers had a reason not to have us prosecuted, but we couldn't work as federal agents any more, obviously. We were both dishonourably dismissed. The whole thing took over two months, and I have to see _another_ psychiatrist." She sighed dramatically her voice full of sarcastic annoyance.

"But you're both still working." Tony pointed out.

Lola pulled herself up and wandered into the kitchen. "That's my director, Duncan," she said, " He said I was more like an actual person now a days and he didn't want me to slip back to how I was. I think he fancies me." She scowled in disapproval. "Anyway, he made a deal with the other directors at the FBI and yours I think. Tim and I have to finish up his programme and database the other cold cases. We're not agents anymore just some stupid consultant administrators or something, but it's a job and we'll be finishing what we started. Like a stop gap until we find other work."

Gibbs had been silent as he finally got to hear the full story and it was so much worse than he imagined. He had thought he'd just bust his way into the problem, throw his weight around and have things back the way they were supposed to be by the end of the week. How stupid and arrogant he'd been. Even with all he'd been through in his life, he had no idea what to do now.

Lola watched them carefully as Gibbs stood straight again and walked past her out of the flat. Ignoring Tony's spluttering behind him, he climbed into his car and went home.

There was a ghost waiting in his basement. A hollow spectre of a man Gibbs had once cherished as a team mate and friend.

"You left me behind." It said.

...

Gibbs found he couldn't move, confronted with his agent at last, he was lost for words, anything he thought of seemed too insignificant or trite.

McGee continued as if nothing was out of the ordinary, putting on a fake conversational tone he motioned to Gibbs' work bench. "You'd left a list here, he said. "I went out and got the things on it. I figured you'd want them when you got back. I hope I got the right stuff."

"You didn't have to do that." Gibbs replied taking a cautious step forward, but clearly this was the wrong thing to say. Would anything have been the right thing?

"Didn't...have to?" McGee said, anger burning in his eyes. "What did I have to do then? What should I have done? I tried to make the best of it Boss, but I couldn't wrap my head around it. How had I ended up on my own like that. After everything I had done, everything I had been through, with the team, with you! Why was I left behind? All that work, everything I changed about myself about how I thought and did things. It ended up meaning nothing. I had nothing to show for it. I was nothing. And that man!" Tim's voice had risen so he was nearly shouting. "He had this terrible smile on his face like he knew! Like nothing would happen to him, like he knew even though he'd done this terrible awful thing we couldn't do anything, couldn't hurt him... " Tim seemed to run out of steam suddenly. " Now I'm even less than I was before and stuck in that horrid place with that woman."

"Hey!" Gibbs suddenly cut into his rant. "_That woman_ is currently in your apartment cleaning your laundry." This outburst clearly derailed McGee's thought process.

"W-what? S-she is?" Tim stammered. "Wow boss I'm even more of a mess than I thought, if even The Dragon is worried about me." His shoulders slumped a little as he spoke and his face relaxed, the tension starting to drift away. Gibbs suddenly felt a small flame of hope ignite in his chest, in front of him stood a man who at least resembled the junior agent he used to know. Tim looked up at him and sighed.

"Sorry boss." he said and the defeat in his eyes broke Gibbs' heart.

"Don't you dare." Gibbs said as he walked down the stairs and stood in front of his agent. Before either of them really knew what was happening he wrapped his arms around him and pulled him tightly into a hug. Tim, obviously not expecting this, tensed up and tried to pull away. But Gibbs just held on tighter.

"I am so sorry Tim." He said as the younger man struggled to get away. Tim went still, his arms hanging loosely at his sides.

Gibbs leaned back keeping his grip on Tim's arms and looking right into his face. "You are not on your own, you never will be. I swear it to you." He said, then he pulled him back into a hug as Tim's tears began to fall.

The End

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><p>Authors note: Wow, this one was melodramatic. Sorry if that makes everyone seem out of character. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading it. It'll be back to younger, less bitter Lola in the next instalment.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

Authors Note: So I thought I better hurry up and complete this. There is a longer multi-chapter I'm thinking of doing with Lola in but that's a fair way off yet. Thank you to everyone who's reviewed and read my stories, They've really inspired and supported me. If the show does one day end I hope everyone gets a happy ending, and here's my idea for one. WARNING: FLUFF! (oh and some bad language)

* * *

><p>Future<p>

Raven flung her school bag at the stairs and was about to stomp up to her room when the delicious smells filling her house made her hesitate. She'd just had one of the worst days of her young life and had been planning to lock herself in her room without speaking to anyone. Now she was hesitating. She really didn't want to see her father, but her stomach was pulling her away from her promised solitude.

"_Who even are you?"_

It wasn't even the first time the bullies at school had brought up her absent parent, or her unconventional style, or her smarts, or the hundred other things that they seemed to think was wrong with her. So why was it bothering her today? She glared at the kitchen door, daring it to suggest something. It's because for the first time you're starting to think these things too, her own thoughts replied. Now what are you going to do about it?

...

Slumping into the kitchen the teenager threw herself into a chair and dropped her head onto the table.

"Hard day?" a smug voice asked.

Raven glared up at Lola, but the older woman just laughed and went back to sautéing some potatoes and onions in a shallow pan on the stove. Tony Dinozzo, her father's friend from his old work, was always suspicious of Lola. He tried to hide it with jokes, but Raven had realised the lead agent was only half joking.

"Of course I really am evil!" She had said, when a five year old Raven had asked. "But don't worry Tiny even evil people have to leave work at work and come home." Her father had just grimaced and asked her not ask him again. She had gotten the same response when she'd asked him why he and Lola weren't married.

Lola was another of those mysteries that had just been a normal part of her life until her teenage years. Is there anyone else like her? Raven thought. Although I've never met any other bad guys, maybe they're all the same? There was no doubt Lola had been "a bad guy", not that Raven had any firm evidence. Nothing was ever discussed at home and if one day a policeman asked her if she'd ever seen anything suspicious, she'd have to say no. But hints had been dropped and there wasn't a rule Lola could resist pushing to breaking point. Her suggestions for dealing with the bitches at school had been pretty interesting too. Raven was pulled out of her day dream as Lola poured the potato and onion gravy over small cubes of juicy meat already sitting in a pie dish.

Lola was concentrating on the pie, laying the pastry lid over the top, trimming the edges and sticking them to the pastry lining the dish. She looked so conventional and sweet. More questions flooded Raven's head, what kind of "bad guy" she had been, why did she stop and how did she end up with a boring stuck-in-the-mud like her father?

Lola looked up triumphantly as she showed off the finished pie. "Tah Dah!" She sing-songed.

"Nice, what is it?" Raven asked.

"Venison." Came the reply as Lola put it in the oven.

"Venison?"

"Bambi." Lola clarified with a wink.

"So what sort of criminal were you?" The words flew out of Raven's mouth before she even realised she was speaking. Lola went still and frowned down at her.

"Ok." She said carefully, dropping into the chair opposite the teenager. "So, what's brought this on suddenly?"

"I don't know. I just...Becky just..."

"What did that little bitch say to you this time?"

"Arg Lol, I don't know why it's bothering me. Why does it matter who I am? She's such a spoilt vacuous...loser." Running out of steam she thumped her head back onto the table with a frustrated huff. Lola laughed softly and Raven heard a gentle clink. A bowel filled with left over sautéed potatoes was steaming in front of her. Without lifting her head Raven pulled the treat closer and started eating. They were hot, crispy and delicious.

"These are good." She admitted.

"Yeah well, this disposal guy called Eddie The Butcher taught me how to cook them." Lola was smiling at Raven across the table as she spoke. "Ironically, he was actually a licensed butcher. But I guess that must have helped him get the job. If you know what I mean." Lola laughed at the look of shock on Raven's face. "Don't you dare tell your father, I said this but..." She made a show of looking over both shoulders to check for eavesdroppers. "I used to be a big deal," She sighed, "now I'm just one of those frustrated women, forced to give up their careers to support her man."

"Wait, wait." Raven sat up, "why are you telling me this now?"

"Tiny, you're a teenager, believe it or not I've know a few and was, in fact, one myself. Everyone is talking about the future, college and careers and relationships , who you are and who you are going to be. Your father and I were actually waiting for you to start asking us all this again."

"Really."

"No. I was. he's taken the la la la I can't hear you approach to the situation. But hey. I can't complain, wouldn't get to be with the two of you if he wasn't into that sort of thing. What with not really being a law abiding member of society."

"You are now."

"You're right! I'm totally abiding! It's actually embarrassing. I used to make fun of people like me." Lola rolled her eyes and started cleaning up.

"You gave up that life for my father?" Raven asked.

"Yes and for you." Lola replied as if it as the simplest thing in the world.

"Wait. Uncle Tony said Dad gave up his job for _you_." Raven said trying to get her head around the situation.

Lola wondered if maybe she had made a mistake by starting the conversation. How was she going to explain everything? "Wasn't just for me." She said. "Erm, your father and I had known each other for a long time before we finally got together. I guess...suddenly all the reasons keeping us apart just weren't...well...there was other stuff happening around then too."

"Around then, being when I was born you mean?" Raven asked.

Lola leaned across the table looking cross. "Don't start making this all about you, we had a lot going on back then and you were just a tiny noisy lump of person. What could you do?" She said.

"Is that why my mother didn't want me?" Raven asked quietly. Lola sighed and looked at the ceiling.

"Well. I shouldn't speak for her." She started slowly. "But she's what people call a free spirit, which I've always seen as code for being childish personally. Childish people shouldn't have children to be responsible for, that just doesn't make sense."

"So what? she didn't want me because I was too much responsibility?" Raven looked like she was about to cry.

"That sounds terrible!" Lola said. "Your father's going to kill me for explaining all this wrong, maybe we should wait for him?"

"She didn't care?" Raven said barely listening.

"Of course she cares, she named you didn't she? I would have just called you Tiny all your life." Lola said trying to turn the conversation around.

"You have called me Tiny all my life." Raven said with a small smile.

Lola smiled in return but it slowly slipped off her face. "Why do you think you've never called me Mum?" She asked the young girl.

"I thought you said it'd make you feel old." Raven replied.

"Tiny look how big you are now! I'm old. I'll just have to accept it." Lola got up to start cleaning again, but Raven didn't miss the sad look in her eyes.

"You never had any children of your own." Raven replied figuring she might as well jump in with both feet. Who knows when her step mother would be in the mood for a candid chat again.

"Yes well...I can't. I'm not going to talk about it." Lola replied briskly. "Anyway I don't need another child, you've been enough work." She abruptly turned away and started cleaning up the counters. Raven thought she'd blown it but Lola sighed and starting talking again.

"You called me mum when you were small." She said. "The first time you said it she was holding you and you got upset and reached your little arms out for me to pick you up. Everyone was so shocked and seeing as I'd been domesticated for a few months by this point I actually felt bad for her." Lola's eyes took on a glint as she said this and Raven guessed any sympathy had since faded. "So I announced that I didn't want you to call me that."

"If she felt bad about it then why didn't she-"

"She's had plenty of times when she suddenly decided she wanted you for herself." Lola said cutting off the question. "Every time we'd have a huge row. But, your father is so patient with her and she always saw sense in the end." Lola spat the last words out with a slight growl and suddenly a new memory sprang into Raven's mind.

"_As if I have no say. No right." Lola was growling every word through her teeth. Raven had only heard Lola that angry once before, when a man had tried to talk to her in the front yard. She tried to lean over the banister and see who Lola was talking to but could only see part of the room. Her father was standing holding his arms out from his body, he looked tense and kept turning his head one way or the other. _

"_You don't, she doesn't have anything to do with you." A familiar voice said. _

"_That is not fair." Her father's voice cut in. "She doesn't mean that Lol, she's just angry. Everyone needs to sit back down. Now!" Raven moved down a few steps quietly, still trying to make out what was going on. She'd never heard her father shout at anyone like that before._

"_What happened? You watch some crap day time drama and felt inspired? I guess we should be lucky you weren't watching The Omen." Lola wasn't backing down. "What do you know about sacrificing for your children? What do you know about sacrificing anything? Your life isn't just about your heart beating and your lungs breathing, it's everything you do in your day, it's the people you interact with. You think you can suddenly just stop and start over?"_

"_You managed it." The familiar voice replied._

"_Tim and I both did and don't forget it!" She could see Lola and her father now, he was holding her and talking quietly into her ear. Lola took a deep breath and turned back to the other person in the room. "OK." She said. "Go on, explain the plan then? Where are you gonna live? She going to share that coffin with you? And school lets out at 3pm so you gonna drop your case load at work to pick her up and what? Take her back to the lab with you? And all those extra hobbies of yours..."_

"_Ok Lol she gets the message." Her father's voice cut in again, although in a much softer tone._

_Raven had reached the doorway to the room now and could hear someone crying softly. Holding her breath she leaned around to look into the room. Her father and Lola were standing in front of her Aunt Abby who was sitting on the couch crying into her hands. Lola suddenly turned and saw Raven at the door. _

_"Ah Tiny could you hear us shouting?" Everyone was looking at her now._

_"You were really loud." She said feeling uncomfortable._

_"Come here Raven." Her Aunt said reaching out with one hand. Raven hesitated she'd never had a problem with Aunt Abby but she didn't understand what was happening, she'd never seen her parents so angry before and her aunt had obviously caused it. She looked to her father and Lola and saw them making an effort to relax. _

_"Let's go back up to bed OK? We won't be loud anymore, promise." Lola said smiling and held her hand out and Raven ran over to her, immediately getting picked up. "Give your father a kiss good night." Raven obeyed and her dad gave her a small smile in return. _

_"Sorry Tiny," he said. "Everything is fine don't worry, Sweet dreams."_

_As Lola carried her out of the room she looked back and saw her Aunt Abby staring at her, tears on her face her hands hanging by her sides. __"I'm not your family." she said._

"Oh." Lola's flat tone broke Raven out of the memory, she realised she must have echoed her Aunt's words out loud. Lola turned back to the counters but Raven had caught the look of pain on her stepmother's face. Raven got up and hugged Lola from behind.

"I don't mean that." She said. "I don't want a new mother. That's not what I'm asking for. I just want to know more about where I came from. You have always been my mother even if no one called you that. I couldn't have dreamed of anyone better." Lola turned and hugged her back. "You gave up your life to start a new one, to be a mother and a wife." Raven continued determined to show Lola just how much she meant to her. "You're amazing."

"Yeah... Well." Lola said rolling her eyes, the strong unsentimental persona slipping back into place. "If the rest of the PTA are right I should have stuck with forging evidence for organised crime."

Raven's shocked response was cut short by the front door banging shut.

"Girl's? Wow something smells great. What is it?" Timothy McGee appeared around the door and smiled at his happy family.

"Eddie the Butcher's Bambi Pie." Raven announced causing his smile to slip and focus his gaze on Lola.

"Don't be mad Babe, but Raven and I have been talking and I think we should invite Abby over for dinner." She said. Raven stared at her step-mother's face in surprise and saw her father's expression immediately darken but Lola dragged him out of the room before he could say anything.

Raven was left in the kitchen trying to sift through everything she had just learned about her family and herself. She had worried she'd feel different. She'd been gearing up to be angry and upset. But she actually felt the same as always, or maybe she was actually more like herself than she had been recently.

Ok, so it wasn't an average story but it wasn't really a surprise either, she was actually feeling kind of relieved. Lola and her father's arguing drifted in from the next room and she found herself smiling. She was Raven McGee, what had she been worrying about, some spoilt rich teenager with daddy issues? What a waste of time. Raven refilled her bowel with potatoes and smiled as her parents re-entered the kitchen.

* * *

><p>I seem to getting all sentimental in my old age. I think this will mark the end of this series now. Hope you enjoyed it.<p> 


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